FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT WINGS FIELD - PAGE 5

What do you get when you put three lawyers before the Whitemarsh Zoning Hearing Board and ask them to debate whether McNeil Consumer Products Inc. should be granted exceptions from township laws governing heliports? Stalemate. That's what happened Wednesday night when attorney Jeremiah J. Cardamone pressed the case for McNeil. Township solicitor Ross Weiss sought to ensure that township requirements were met, and attorney James Smith of the Center City law firm of Dilworth, Paxson, Kalish & Kauffman went to bat for the residents fighting the heliport.

Wings Airways, the only independent commuter airline in southeastern Pennsylvania, announced yesterday that it would suspend all scheduled flights by June 14. The suspension, attributed to the recession and the Persian Gulf war, affects more than 30 daily flights, most between Wings Field in Blue Bell and Philadelphia International Airport. The others include two daily round trips between Philadelphia and Cape May County Airport, one daily round trip between Blue Bell and Washington's Dulles International Airport, and another between Philadelphia International and Dulles.

Whitpain supervisors have postponed their vote on a controversial zoning amendment that could, on the surface, double the number of homes built in certain areas of the township. Officials and about 30 residents met Friday at a public hearing to discuss proposed changes to R5 and R6 zoning, which currently allow only one home to be built on a roughly 3-acre lot. The proposed amendment would allow one home on every 1.5 acres and would better comply with case laws that require a variety of housing options in zoning ordinances, officials said.

To preempt possible court-mandated changes, the Board of Supervisors has unanimously adopted an ordinance that cuts in half the size of building lots required in two residential zoning districts. The effect of the ordinance will be to permit greater density in the R5 and R6 districts, which had required 3-acre lots, primarily for single-family homes. Though the change to 1.5-acre lots was strongly protested by residents at the supervisors' August meeting, it was approved with virtually no resistance Tuesday night.

Nearly 200 residents are expected to gather tonight at 7:30 for the Quality of Life Coalition of Whitpain's inaugural meeting at the Baptist Temple at Skippack Pike and Lewis Lane. Concerns about open space, proposed high-density housing, traffic congestion, Wings Field expansion, a proposed Marriott hotel, a skating rink and a gasoline spill at the Gulf station are all on the organizational meeting's agenda. The goal of the coalition and its 15-person steering committee is to preserve the township's rural ambience and to support local government in protecting it, members said.

The Montgomery County commissioners moved yesterday to establish a task force that will develop a plan to help carry the county into the next century. The commissioners said they hoped that "Montgomery 2000 - A Blue Print for the Future" would give officials direction in addressing such issues as suburban sprawl, unregulated development and low-income housing needs. The goal is to gain "control over our destiny," said Commissioner Joseph M. Hoeffel 3d. For Commissioners Chairman Mairo Mele, such a plan may help to ensure the county's coveted triple-A bond rating.

Developer William Hummel has conquered the first obstacle in the way of putting up an office campus in Whitpain and has begun tackling another one. Hummel presented sketches for a land development plan for a 42,000-square- foot office campus on seven lots at Township Line and Norristown Roads to the Whitpain Planning Commission at its meeting Tuesday. The informal presentation was the first step in the commission's decision on whether to recommend that the township supervisors approve the five- building complex.

Plans and presentations for a bed and breakfast in Whitpain have been postponed until next month, to the dismay of more than a dozen residents ready to protest the idea. "It sure was a nice drive over," one man grumbled to another as he pulled on his coat Thursday night after learning that the hearing was postponed until April 26. The three-member zoning panel was scheduled to hear a request by Stephanie Cerami to convert her Colonial home into a three-room inn. According to the plan, the lodging would be in the larger of two homes on the 5.2-acre residentially zoned property.

David B. Fraser, 53, of Maple Glen, president and co-owner of the optical engineering firm Fraser-Volpe Corp., died last Sunday when the single-engine plane he was flying crashed during an emergency landing at the Wheeling-Ohio County Airport in West Virginia. His wife, Elizabeth, 50, the only other person aboard the plane, remained in serious condition late Thursday at the Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling with a broken sternum, two broken legs and facial fractures, according to a hospital spokeswoman.